Latest news with #DavidLally
CBS News
03-05-2025
- Sport
- CBS News
Lacrosse captain from Massachusetts also introducing children to the water as a surf instructor
Old Rochester lacrosse captain at home on the field and on the water Old Rochester lacrosse captain at home on the field and on the water Old Rochester lacrosse captain at home on the field and on the water The captain of the Old Rochester Regional High School lacrosse team in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts is helping his teammates on the field and also teaches a completely different sport in the water. When senior David Lally is on the lacrosse field, he's in attack mode, averaging four goals a game for the Bulldogs. Captain of lacrosse team "He's really skilled, I think a lot of people take notes from him in practice and in games and try to add his type of things into their games," said senior lacrosse player Caleb Bousquet, who's known Lally since first grade. Growing up as the middle child, lacrosse was a common bond between Lally and his four brothers and sisters. "It all started in the backyard, just that competitiveness and all messing around," said Lally. The senior has taken his family tradition and run with it. This season, he's the captain for Old Rochester. "He's sort of a glue guy, he's very calm under pressure," said lacrosse head coach Erich Carroll. "He doesn't really get rattled, so he keeps things settled for us." "It's great to be able to help out with the younger guys, especially," said Lally. "That's kind of my favorite role as a captain, is making sure they always feel involved and just keeping it fun." Surf therapy instructor Lally's other passion is surfing, no matter the season. "Pretty much whenever it's good we try and go," said Lally. "Anything we can surf on around here, we take what we can get." For Lally, surfing isn't a solo sport. It's an experience he prefers to share as an instructor for Gnome Surf Therapy. "We surf with all athletes of all ages and abilities," said Lally. "Typically neurodivergent athletes, autism, Down syndrome and then a lot of athletes with spinal cord injuries." Lally gets to connect with kids who may not otherwise get to know the feeling of riding a wave in. He's helped students from the South Coast to Costa Rica. "It definitely takes a ton of patience, you can't push them to be in the water if they don't want to be," said Lally. "So it's definitely a mental game and you've got to form a connection with these kids before they can trust you. But it's a pretty special thing once you break that barrier and get them out on the waves." Building connections is what Lally hopes to continue this fall when he goes to the University of Denver to study sociology. "I like connecting with people, I love people," said Lally.
New York Times
05-03-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Spirit of Oakland A's infuses Pixar's ‘Win or Lose,' with heroes in green and gold
EMERYVILLE, Calif. — Fans of the artists formerly known as the Oakland A's might be shopping for a new favorite team this spring. A recently released streaming series from Pixar offers a chance for fans to cling to what used to be. 'Win or Lose' is an animated series focusing on a co-ed, youth-level softball team, the Pickles, that wears vintage green-and-gold uniforms, embraces an underdog mentality and plays in a home city that looks like Oakland. Advertisement This is not a coincidence. Pixar Animation Studios is based in Emeryville, Calif., less than 10 miles from the A's bygone home. Many crew members who worked on 'Win or Lose' live in the East Bay. 'I would say that the Pickles in general, both in team color and vibe, are a nod to the Oakland A's,' series producer David Lally told The Athletic. 'How can you go wrong with green and gold?' co-creator Carrie Hobson added. It's often subtle, but the softball team at the heart of the show pays homage to the MLB franchise that relocated this season after 56 years in the neighborhood. The team is currently based in West Sacramento, Calif., and plans on moving to Las Vegas in 2028. Pixar's ties to Oakland baseball go back even further than the years of watching the A's in the city. The parking lot at its studio headquarters was built on the ground where the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League first played on April 10, 1913. The DiMaggio brothers left their footprints at Oaks Park, as did Casey Stengel, Billy Martin and Negro League barnstorming stars like Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige and Jackie Robinson. As a nod to that past, the Pixar campus includes a Jimmy Claxton Lounge, an elegant meeting room named after the Canadian-born pitcher who became the first Black player to compete professionally for a baseball team. In 1916, Claxton pitched both ends of a doubleheader for the Oaks, but when the team learned of the southpaw's African heritage, he was released. Now, the latest home team on these hallowed grounds is the Pickles. 'Win or Lose' premiered on Disney+ on Feb. 19 and will continue to drop two episodes every Wednesday until March 12. This is Pixar's first original series not based on an existing intellectual property. A post shared by Pixar (@pixar) The A's references in 'Win or Lose' are a little tricky to spot. There are no protagonists named 'Reggie,' 'Vida' or 'Stew.' There isn't a recognizable billionaire executive playing the role of a villain. The softball action, in fact, serves mostly as a backdrop. The 24-minute episodes delve into the individual lives and mental well-being of the players, parents, coaches — and even an umpire — as they cope with modern stresses. The championship game buildup is largely ancillary. Advertisement Still, the softball scenes are handled with care. 'I feel like it was so important to get it right because there's never been a softball movie, and there's never been a softball show,' said Hobson, who played USA Fastpitch for 10 years growing up in Arizona. 'Everything out there, at least mainstream, is baseball.' Whenever the focus shifts to a ballpark in the series, there's a tilt that's distinctly Oakland. The team's blue-collar, low-payroll ethos should look familiar to A's fans. 'We didn't want to depict the softball travel team that has the biggest budget and the best fields,' Lally said. 'It's the 'Moneyball' of Pixar,' co-creator Michael Yates said. New clip from 'WIN OR LOSE' has been released. The series premieres on Disney+ on February — Cartoon Base (@TheCartoonBase) February 14, 2025 While researching for the making of 'Win or Lose,' animators toured multiple locations around the region. The fictional town in the series is called Peaks Valley, and there are sprinklings from Vallejo (the Carquinez Bridge appears in one shot) as well as Sacramento (which inspired the look of an airport and a theater in the show). 'We visited a number of local baseball and softball parks in East Bay when designing the Peaks Valley field,' Lally said. 'We looked at the fields, the upkeep, the vibe, to find something that felt scrappy and imperfect. Clearly lots of love (was) put into it — much like the Pickles team itself. We also looked at the facilities around the fields — snack shacks, sheds, etc. — to find the right feel for much of that.' Tom Law, who provides a voice in the series, came up with the name 'Peaks Valley' as a reference to Mill Valley, located across the Bay in Marin County. But in the show, the look of Peaks Valley is heavily influenced by Berkeley, where a number of crew members reside, including production designer Noah Klocek. Advertisement As another East Bay touch, actor/comedian Will Forte, of 'Saturday Night Live,' 'MacGruber' and 'The Last Man on Earth' fame, provides the voice of Coach Dan. Forte was born in Alameda, Calif., and grew up in the East Bay as an A's and Raiders fan. 'Win or Lose' is hardly the first Pixar creation to shout out the A's. There was a quick shot of a Rickey Henderson bobblehead doll in 'Toy Story 4' that can be traced to Jonas Rivera, the multi-time Academy Award winner who produced that movie, as well as 'Up' and 'Inside Out.' The son of Oakland natives, Rivera was born in 1971 and grew up going to A's games at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. His favorite players included Henderson, Tony Armas, Dwayne Murphy and Mike Heath. Rivera always loved the renegade spirit of the East Bay, both on the field and on the screen. 'The A's, to me, are born out of that attitude,' Rivera told journalist Susan Slusser in 2019. 'This city is born out of that, always in the shadow of San Francisco, and always the underdog. The city of Oakland and the teams here have to fight harder. Pixar, in my mind, is cut from the same cloth.' With the remaining 'Win or Lose' episodes to be released, one of them (spoiler alert!) will show how much care Coach Dan puts into those 'scrappy and imperfect' fields. The coach shows up early to personally handle maintenance, an embrace of a warts-and-all home turf that Oakland fans might relate to. 'How do you make what you have great?' Yates said. It sometimes takes some strain in 'Win or Lose' to see the A's influences, but it's not your imagination. Think of it as that steady drumbeat that used to come from right field at the Coliseum, something you can't not notice. The East Bay influences are an ode to the misfit teams of yore. 'It was definitely intentional,' Lally said. (Top image courtesy of Pixar Animation Studios)
